Stowaway crackdown

STOCKTON - Nobody needed to pull out a ticket before boarding an express bus in downtown Stockton on Friday afternoon.

Zachary K. Johnson

STOCKTON - Nobody needed to pull out a ticket before boarding an express bus in downtown Stockton on Friday afternoon.

Still, Jimmy Garcia, 55, had his pass tucked into his wallet. He takes the bus every day, he said, and he's seen riders get caught without a pass.

"They give out tickets, and I don't want a ticket," Garcia said before hitching his bike to the rack in front of the bus and climbing aboard.

Transit officials are hoping a stepped-up enforcement effort and recently passed legislation will convince more riders it's not worth it to try to skip paying fares.

According to San Joaquin Regional Transit District estimates, nearly 1 in 5 riders on the district's Metro Express buses don't pay for their ride, which amounts to a revenue loss of about $220,000 a year. The express buses are a growing part of RTD's Stockton network. As they've become more popular, they've been carrying a larger proportion of the district's total ridership, and the district added a third line along Hammer Lane this summer.

Part of the appeal is that the express buses run often and cover more ground quickly. One of the ways the bus is able to speed along its route is by requiring passengers to buy their tickets before getting on the bus. At each stop, they enter through two doors, one at each end of the bus.

Not buying a ticket is a risk many riders seem willing to take, officials said.

"It's not fair to paying customers if we turn a blind eye," said Les Fong, chairman of RTD's Board of Directors. And getting more money at the farebox is good for the taxpayers who fund the district, too, he said.

The district contracts with the Stockton police departments to randomly check riders for proper tickets. In August, the district started weekly "blitzes" of enforcement.

In September, about a quarter of inspected passengers hadn't paid the correct fare.

In four September blitzes, 1,032 passengers were inspected and 258 were cited, according to Shelly Valenton, project manager. The goal is fare compliance, but it's a safety issue, too, she said. Passengers, in general, feel safer knowing their fellow riders are abiding by the rules, she said.

Officials also believe that a bill recently signed into law will help.

Fare evasion in the district is handled by the court system. AB492, written by Cathleen Galgiani, D-Stockton, and sponsored by RTD, means transit districts have more flexibility by handling fare evasion as a civil, instead of criminal, penalty.

It means the transit district can handle fines in house, much like a city can handle parking tickets - and it will reduce fare evasion, Galgiani said.

Even the scofflaws get a break with the new law that goes into effect in January, because it allows the district to craft a penalty to fit the offense.

Today, a first-time offender sent to court could wind up paying more than a $1,000 fine, RTD spokesman Paul Rapp said.

RTD doesn't see any of that money, he said. The new law wouldn't mean fine revenue for RTD, either, he said. "The goal is that people will pay the correct fare to ride our buses."